Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club

Scorecard

Stratfield Turgis & Hartley Wespall v Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club League 1st XI on Sat 10 Aug 2019 at 1:00 pm
Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club Won by 41 runs

Match report STRATFIELD TURGIS BLOWN AWAY BY GALE FORCE CROWS

As is the English cricketer's tradition, all week in the run up to this fixture the players of both sides were never too far from a weather forecast. Apps, websites, thermometers, barometers and anemometers were all in overdrive right up until the afternoon itself...and despite the 50mph winds the game was able to start on time. Well, 10 minutes late, after Stratfield had to dismantle a sightscreen that was starting to trundle off into the car park.

After last week's chastening defeat by Mortimer West End, his first of the season as captain, sometimes skipper Jeff Cluett came under fire from certain quarters. Given that, there was an almost audible scrape of knives being sharpened further after he trudged back from the toss, truculently informing his troops that they were to be batting first in tricky, testing conditions. The outlook, like the weather, looked bleak.

The achilles heel of CCWCC for many years has been losing early wickets, however the opening partnership of the Colonel and Nikunj had shown some promising signs throughout the season. Today was to be the day that this promise was fulfilled. And then some. Ant and Nik were very punishing of errant length in particular, with the Colonel unfurling some cracking cover drivers reminiscent of his halcyon days at New Ground in 2012 and 2013, and Nikunj cut away anything short for umpteen boundaries. They looked increasingly solid, and it seemed as if nothing could dislodge them from the crease. There was one thing that could though- that dastardly weather. Just after shaking hands on their 100 partnership from 19 overs, the rain whipped in and the covers were wheeled on.

The rain delay just about kept to 30 minutes, the limit before overs are lost, and the openers were able to resume knowing they still had their full 40 overs to post a truly imposing score. Nik was especially gung-ho after the break, moving quickly past his fifty, and then just as swiftly back to the pavilion as he tried one shot too many to the canny Tom Clay. Colonel Ant Cluett lasted a little longer, first ensuring he secured his fifty (his 3rd in 9 innings), then putting the hammer down, eventually falling on an excellently made 74. This was the kind of platform that middle-order batsmen dream of, and with his sights firmly set on a total of 250 Captain Cluett joined former BCL Young Player of the Year Joe Davies at the crease. Both took full advantage of their license to play shots, Jaffa even hitting his first ball way back over the bowler's head for a mighty 6, however Joe fell for a trademark twenty-something just as he looked like really getting going. The indomitable Mike Brundish cut an imposing figure as he strode to the crease next, promoted up the order to cause some carnage, and he was not to disappoint. Mikey and Jeff pressed hard on the accelerator, adding a fifty partnership in double-quick time, and the Crows managed to score 110 in their last 10 overs to race up to 270 from their 40 overs.

Faced with a required rate of almost 7 from the outset, needless to say the Strafield openers were aggressive almost from ball 1. This intent from the batsmen, combined with the tricky, gusting wind, meant that the usually accurate Sinnerman and Jaffa struggled to find consistency with the new ball. Despite somehow burgling 2 maidens, Cluett yanked himself out of the attack after just 4 overs, bringing on The Nugget Kieran Golding for an early bowl. It was The Earl at the other end who made the breakthrough first though, dismissing the big-hitting Synodinos in the fly slip trap. This allowed the Crows bowlers to regain a little control, as KDog wheeled away nicely from one end and first Sin, then Chris Emes, attacked from the other. Kieran was the pick of the seamers on the day, his left arm angle causing trouble for some talented Stratfield batsmen, and he bowled 8 overs on the bounce into the wind, finishing with 2-38. The plucky Stratfield were always behind the rate, despite undoubtedly putting pressure on the Crows and keeping themselves just about in touch for most of their innings. It was the introduction of the spinners that proved decisive, as is so often the case, with Ants Cluett and Avrili collecting 5 wickets between them for just 48 runs. This spin-tervention meant CCWCC were able to restrict Stratfield to 229-9 off their 40 overs, and the Crows crept to a hard-fought win to reclaim 3rd in the league.

A tired Jaffa spoke to the press immediately after the victory was secured, telling a reporter that "this was probably the best fielding display [I have] seen, definitely the best fielding display you have seen". He added, "my cricketing philosophy is about entertaining first, winning second. Probably maidens third."

"It's all hotting up for the last few weeks of the season. All the prizes still up for grabs. I'm particularly interested to see who picks up the first annual Jeff Cluett Memorial Maiden-Man Award. Or woman. I hate sexism."


Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club League 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1w 26b 11lb 
for 5 wickets
38
270		        
Anthony Cluett b J Synodinos 74
Nikunj Mehta b T Clay 59 1
Joe Davies lbw S Sekaran 26 1
Jeff Cluett b J Manayil 39 1
Mike Brundish Not Out  33
David Shaw b J Manayil 0
Marvin Vogel Not Out  1
Kieran Golding   1
Chris Emes   2
Ant Avrili  
Sinith Chandran  

Stratfield Turgis & Hartley Wespall Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Balaji Chandra Babu6.004200.007.00
Ravi Chakrapani5.002000.004.00
Rajdeep Das4.001500.003.75
Tom Clay8.0129129.003.63
John Synodinos7.0041141.005.86
Shashank Agrawal4.003000.007.50
Jitesh Manayil4.0044222.0011.00
Sridhar Sekaran2.0012112.006.00

Stratfield Turgis & Hartley Wespall Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 4w 3b 2lb 
for 9 wickets
10
229 (40.0 overs)		     
John Synodinos ct J Davies b S Chandran 20
Shashank Agrawal lbw K Golding 32
Chris Butcher ct N Mehta b A Cluett 59
Daniel Spence ct J Cluett b K Golding 15
Rajdeep Das ct C Emes b A Avrili 22
Ravi Chakrapani b J Cluett 5
Jitesh Manayil ct K Golding b A Cluett 32
Sridhar Sekaran ct C Emes b A Cluett 12
Martin Sandland lbw A Avrili 22
Balaji Chandra Babu  
Tom Clay  

Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club League 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Jeff Cluett7.0228128.004.00
Sinith Chandran6.0040140.006.67
Kieran Golding8.0136218.004.50
Chris Emes6.003600.006.00
Marvin Vogel2.002500.0012.50
Anthony Cluett8.0141313.675.13
Ant Avrili3.00723.502.33